The Origins of Classical Ballet

The art of ballet dance is actually very old. It takes a disciplined and athletic body to perform the beautiful movements that tell us a story. Performances usually take place in a theater. Many young girls fantasize about becoming stars in the ballet world. In actuality it takes a lot of hard work and many years if they make it at all.

Since so many French names are given to ballet postures, for instance the plie, most people think that the dance itself began in France. Actually ballet is known to go back as far as 15th century Italy. These movements performed during the Renaissance led to the French development of ballet as we now know it. The Queen's Ballet Company was the very first and was located in France.

Development of ballet and its popularity can be credited to the royalty. Popularity led to creation of beautiful dances, extravagant costumes, sets, and props. With passage of time, the costumes continued to become more intricate, and toe dancing was introduced. However, the dancers could only hold their positions for just a few seconds as block toe shoes were yet to be invented.

In the 19th century, romantic ballet came along. This was partly due to the ballet La Sylphide. It brought many changes to ballet and toe dancing was more in evidence. Most of us are familiar with tutus, and if you were wondering where it came from, it is attributed to the ballet Giselle. In this dance there were ghostly spirits and they were costumed in tutus.

All romantic ballets focused on women and this encouraged women to take on increasingly to become ballerinas. They grew up in Russia, Denmark and even the United States. While ballet prospered in other nations, it started declining in France. The decline could be because ballet was seen as being very other worldly with mythical steps.

In the twentieth century however, ballet began to see a shift where the moves started to resemble human movement, thanks in part to the many different styles of dance that were becoming increasingly popular. This change has continued until today where many ballets incorporate different styles of dance as inspiration.

These days ballets have evolved as a combination with another style of dance to produce a new symphony in the art of dance. This process began in 1944, when a ballet called Fancy Free was introduced. This ballet used jazz dance with the ballet steps to create a revolutionary dance form.

Today many more modern ballets are being performed, while at the same time audiences still love the classical and romantic forms. All of these styles are still taught and performed as ballet is immensely popular. People are constantly impressed at the variety and complexity of movements that humans are capable of. Even though most of us will never be able to perform these moves, we can marvel and dream when we see ballet on stage.

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